The third offer is a Control account for £5 a month. Without an overdraft, it is aimed at those on lower incomes who have previously struggled to meet payments.

The fixed £5 fee means customers won’t have to pay any other charges for missed standing orders or direct debits.

The accounts will first be available in the South-East, before a full roll-out across the Post Office’s 11,500 branches next year.

The move comes as other banks tighten the screws on costly customer accounts. Santander has moved nearly two million customers from a mix of old Alliance & Leicester and Abbey accounts paying 1 per cent on credit balances up to £2,500 into its Everyday account — which pays no interest.

The Spanish-owned bank giant wrote to customers in the Preferred In-Credit, Preferred Overdraft, Premier Direct, Premier 50 and Premier 21 accounts late last year.

A bank spokesman said the move was made ‘to simplify the vast array of old accounts’.

Elsewhere, millions ofNatWest and RBS current accountcustomers face a £6-a-month charge plus interest for going more than £10 over their arranged overdrafts.

From July, the State-backed bank will force current account customers to pay the extra fee on top of the 19.89 per cent overdraft interest.

Worse, interest will kick in after you go more than £10 into the red instead of the current £100.

The only way of avoiding these charges is to pay up to £24 a month for a packaged account.

And Halifax Reward current accountcustomers with fewer than two direct debits have been moved into its standard current account. Previously, the bank paid £5 a month to all customers, but now demands two monthly payments.